When we learn of the death of a classmate, we will send information to you and to other class officers. If the classmate is survived by a spouse, the College will also send a condolence note inviting him or her to remain on the College’s mailing list.

We encourage you to delegate the preparation of obituaries to classmates who were close to the deceased or to family members of the deceased. Please tell these writers to send remembrances directly to your alumni office liaison by the stated deadline, which is the same as for class notes (June 1, September 1, December 1 and March 1). Be sure that they are aware of the 300-word limit before they begin writing.

An In Memory piece for Amherst should include the full name of the deceased, the date of death and a brief statement (if appropriate) of the cause of death and survivors. If any Amherst alumni are among the survivors, please include class years after names. Briefly list educational, business and professional accomplishments, as well as some details of the deceased’s Amherst years.

Donations for an Amherst scholarship or other Amherst college fund may be noted at the end of the remembrance. However, the College’s nonprofit status prohibits it from including solicitations for other charitable organizations. Only one remembrance will be printed for the deceased. Therefore, the class secretary should ensure that only one remembrance is submitted.

There will be cases in which the deceased person was not well known. In such cases, the Amherst College Biographical Record (published in 1973, 1983 and 1993) or the alumni directory will be the best—perhaps the only—source of information. Your Olio might also be helpful. If members of the family are also alumni, the alumni office may be able to assist you with contact information. While we hope for all alumni to have an In Memory piece appear, sometimes it is not possible and an In Memory page will still be created.

Secretaries should strive to submit an In Memory piece for the issue closest to the date of the classmate's death.

The In Memory piece may not exceed 300 words.We encourage you to post longer remembrances online. Classmates can add comments and recollections to those posts.